The Official World Golf Ranking might have its flaws at this moment in time, but no one can argue that the latest rankings are a more accurate representation of how good a player Ludvig Aberg is.
Golf’s newest superstar, who claimed his first PGA Tour victory at the RSM Classic, after firing back-to-back rounds of 61, has risen an incredible 3,064 spots since the end of 2022.
The Swede is now ranked number 32 in the world. Given that the 24-year-old only turned professional in June, it’s been a truly meteoric rise.
Aberg starred for his college side at Texas Tech University, before making his professional debut at the RBC Canadian Open in June, where he finished in a tie for 25th.
In the 16 PGA Tour starts that he’s made to date, the talented Swede has already recorded four top-10 finishes.
On the other side of the Pond, the man from Eslov won the Omega European Masters in September, a performance that convinced European Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald that, despite only being a professional for few months, he was ready for Rome.
And ready he was. He won two points from his four matches, one of which came when he teamed up with Viktor Hovland to thump Brooks Koepka and Scottie Scheffler 9&7.
His performance in Italy might not have earned the player any world ranking points, but he went straight back to work after helping Europe to regain the Ryder Cup at Marco Simone and, after knocking on the door several times, he finally got that maiden PGA Tour title at Sea Island.
As a PGA Tour winner and world top 50 player, the doors have now opened for Aberg, and you wouldn’t bet against him adding to his two professional wins fairly swiftly.
Once he has finished his year at the at the Grant Thornton Invitational event in Naples in December, he can start to look forward to the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and the Genesis Invitational in February.
After that, he can also start making plans for a trip to Georgia, in April, where he will make his Major Championship debut at Augusta National.
“It's quite surreal,” said Aberg, when asked for his thoughts on how his 2024 season is shaping up.
“If you would have told me this a couple months ago, I would not have believed you. It makes me emotional to think about it, but it's really, really cool.”
Aberg is not the only player to have cracked the world's top 50. After winning the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai, fellow Ryder Cup wildcard Nicolai Hojgaard climbed to number 50.
